The Luck family attended the University of Alabama’s Spring Football game, A-Day.  There were 91,000 people in attendance to watch this practice game.  Needless to say, Coach Saban and I were very pleased with the outcome.

From Heather:

“I have already delivered our gifts to our adopted family.  They are really sweet!  Would love for our church to stay in touch with this family.  They are currently looking for new inexpensive housing so if anyone knows of anything please contact me or the family.  They have such consuming health issues it is hard for them to attend church services but she definitely seemed open to the word and God’s love.  Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to meet this precious family.”

From Steve and Laura:

“I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to serve someone in need this Christmas.  My husband and I wanted all of our family to participate in a project such as this.  Last evening we loaded the kids in the car (some were a little grumpy at first) and headed off to the store.  Once the shopping commenced, everyone seriously went into action looking for just the right gift!  We all began to have fun and didn’t mind sacrificing time to bless another person in need.  The gifts were delivered and the family was very grateful.  Thank you for organizing this project and giving our family an opportunity reach out to another.  We were so blessed!!!”

This one is from Melanie:

“Hi!  We delivered everything to our adopted family on Wednesday evening.  They were great.  We spent time talking with them.  They do have an older daughter, 19 who lives with them that wasn’t on the list.  So we are going to send her some $ for her classes she is taking in January.”

From Debra and Rick:

“We delivered our presents to our family on Wednesday. They were very appreciative. I told them to give the gifts to the children from them. We felt blessed to be able to help.”

This was a note that Miki received from one of the families we ministered to.  It shows you how powerful sacrificial love can be.

“I want to thank you from the bottom on my heart! This means so much to me and will be such a blessing for my boys! I can’t wait to the day when I can help someone else out who is in need…But now under my circumstances, God has provided in so many ways for my boys and I. So each and every day I wake up I thank him for his guidance, understanding, and for walking with me every step of the way! I could go on about the many blessings that have happened. But the day you called me I was is shock as I knew it was going to be hard for me to give my boys a Christmas they deserved. I was so blessed by your call! …As I said this means so much to me and I promise you one day I will pay it forward! I am a big believer in that!

Our church is amazing!  Let’s keep it up!

“We have gone to church for a long time and we have always given an offering but we never tithed.  Over the last year God has been speaking to us in this area of our lives.  On Sunday January 22, Pastor Scott was speaking about tithing and we decided (even before he issued the 3 month challenge) that we were going to listen to God, give God control of our finances and begin the practice of tithing.  During that service I wrote a 2nd check for the amount that made 10% of our pay that week and added it to the envelope.  My husband had no idea I had written this extra check.  We got home from church that day and he handed me in cash the exact amount of money that I had written that 2nd check for!  I laughed and told him about the check and that it was for the same amount that the cash was.  I knew God would bless us, but I sure didn’t expect it to happen that fast!”

Here is another one I received:

“In January we realized that our family had approximately $1,000 in unexpected bills that we had not prepared for.  Although there was no way that our income would cover these expenses we continued to tithe our 10% in faith that somehow we would figure it out later.  Not truly having any plans.  Sort of just using the ignore method.  In January we made a decision to change our home owners insurance policy in attempt to save a little money.  After making this change we received a check for roughly $950 due to overpayment from our original insurance policy that we had canceled.  God is capable and faithful and all I can say is look out, He will do measurable more than what we could ever imagine.”

And there is more:

“2009 was a very hard year for us. Our family endured a lot of illness (nothing serious) that resulted in a lot of medical bills, co-pays and deductibles. It seemed as if every time we turned around, something in our house was going out and we were having to replace water heaters and water softeners and garage doors and openers. Then there was my car. Fuel pump, odometer, breaks down. WHAT MORE???? We also suffered with marital struggles.   Instead of continuing to trust God, we gave less and less. And felt more and more guilt.   Pastor Scott’s  messages on tithing helped spur the reminder that God is faithful and God is good. He will provide all we need and more when we trust in Him. We starting giving again and already God has blessed us with a healthier marriage, a more profitable business and a better outlook on life. And that’s just since last month. Imagine what God can do for us as we continue to trust Him.”

Not done yet…read this:

“This last series, In The Zone has been great for us.  We have committed to be the faithful givers that we know He wants us to be, so we began 2010 with our tithe, and just today, as I was driving down 135 my van began to overheat!  This became very depressing to me, as we had just had the transmission rebuilt not that long ago, but I remembered Pastor Scott’s sermon from Sunday and began to thank God that we have a vehicle.  I called my husband who just happened to be on the South side of town to let him know what was happening and he came and got the van to have it checked.  We ended up needing a new radiator and water pump, which was estimated to cost $796.00.  I began to chuckle because you see, our taxes were filed Wednesday night, February 3, an all time record, and our return was $800!!!  It’s just like our God to bless us in ways we would never expect!  I often wonder why we always think God will bless us financially, because my blessings have always come in the way of relationship building, but today I was shown that God always meets us where we need him the most.  Thank you so much for this series!  We love this church, we love the staff and we are excited for the vision of this church!”

You just cannot out give God!

Here is my challenge:  wake up everyday for the next three days and before you roll out of bed, think of three things you are thankful for.  Identify them.  Speak them.  Treasure them. Thank God for them.  Then let me know the difference this simple step makes in your day.

So the man takes a small pair of scissors and he makes the opening of the cocoon larger so that the moth could escape.  The moth emerged, but with a swollen body and shriveled wings.  The man thought that in time the moth’s wings would expand and it’s body would contract to a normal size for a moth.  It never did.  In fact, the moth was never able to fly.

The man did not realize the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body INTO the wings so that the moth would be ready for flight once it had emerged from the cocoon.

So many times I catch myself thinking, “God, why don’t you take this problem away?  Why don’t you remove this obstacle?”  I  forget so often that these very struggles taken away from me would cripple me from being what God wants me to be just like this man crippled the moth by removing it’s struggle. Problems, pain and adversity drive me to a greater dependence on God.  The struggle increases my faith.  The struggle produces something in me that comfort and ease could never produce.

1 Peter 5:10 sums it up pretty well:  And after you suffer for a short time, God, who gives all grace, will make everything right. He will make you strong and support you and keep you from falling. I love this verse!   God will make everything right.  He also promises to make us strong and to support us.  And even in the midst of the struggle, we don’t have to fall.  The difficulty of the cocoon is essential for the development of the moth;  difficulties in our lives are essential to our growth as well.

Discipleship Training is an adventure in learning how to grow in intimacy with Christ.  Our meetings will be every Thursday night, beginning September 17^th and continuing to November 12^th.

Discipleship Training Level 1 is a 9 week environment designed to help believers grow in the habits that foster intimacy with Christ.  D.T. provides systematic, personal and Spirit-directed teaching in the context of loving accountability.  Participants commit to daily time alone with God, weekly scripture memory and group attendance.  Let me know if you have any questions.  I guarantee you will grow like never before!

]]> http://scottluck.net/discipleship-training/feed/ 0 http://scottluck.net/little-league-football-and-pain/ http://scottluck.net/little-league-football-and-pain/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:37:16 +0000 Pastor Scott http://scottluck.net/?p=73 Most of you know I am coaching my boys in football.  Ryan is playing his third year of flag and Harrison has just started his first year in pads.  This past Saturday, Harrison’s team had their first game-like scrimmage.  The purpose of this scrimmage is to simulate what a real game is like to help the kids prepare for it.  As I am coaching these kids, I am being reminded how much football parallels our spiritual lives. This scrimmage was the first time these kids have been hit…I mean…really hit.  My boys would come back to the huddle after a great run and a big hit on them and they were hurting.  Now, they were not injured…just hurting from the contact.  Needless to say, I saw a lot of tears.  And I heard a lot of kids tell me they wanted out of the game.  Now, as a coach, I want my players to know I understand their pain.  But I have to challenge them to play through it and overcome it.  And overcoming it is not easy.

Just like in life.  There is a battle, a war, if you will for our hearts.  John Eldredge says it like this:  “The Enemy is hell-bent on disabling or deadening our hearts.  If he can do that, then he can effectively foil the plan of God which is to create a world where love reigns.  By taking out your heart, the Enemy can take you out.”  The Enemy assaults us with pain.  You lose your job; your parents split up; your doctor gives you a grim prognosis.  And we are tempted to lose heart, give up and check out of the game and sit it out.  If we give in, we can’t have love, we can’t have life and we can’t have God.  We got to learn to play through it.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0310/p09s01-coop.htm

Let me know what you think. 

I do agree with many of his observations.  The Christian right, as a voting block, is losing it’s once powerful grip.  We indeed live in a post-Christian culture.  But Jesus never called us to be a voting block, but a movement of authentic Christ-followers.  I do think he has not taken into account the effect of trials in our personal lives.  In other words, yea, politically, some people dislike evangelicals.  But a financial collapse here, a terrorist attack there, a bad medical prognosis looming near…brings many people in the front doors of a church…especially evangelical churches. 

Bottom line:  the days of describing the USA as a Christian nation are done.

I am anticipating many in our church responding to this by saying, “What is our missions strategy?”  There you have the reason why we need to change directions…most people are not aware of what we are really trying to accomplish.  In a nutshell, our current missions strategy is “missionary centered.”  This approach tries to connect the church family to the missionaries serving overseas…for prayer and encouragement.  Obviously, missionaries need our prayers and our encouragement.  And I am all of for praying for those serving in missions.  But I am more concerned that Jesus has called all of us to be missionaries ourselves.   The typical American church is not mobilizing Christ followers to be missionaries themselves.  In other words, most churches focus on supporting the professional missionaries financially.  All you have to do is drop the check in the offering bag, and you have done your missions duty. Simply praying for a missionary and providing financial support does not do enough.  We must go!  At least, that is how I read the Great Commission in Matthew 28.  I believe we need to change directions at Stones Crossing Church because not enough of us are actually going because our current approach holds us back from going. 

So, instead of a “missionary centered” approach, I believe God is leading us to a “mission centered approach.”  We mobilize our church family to  accomplish a particular mission(build a water tower for a village, construct a school, plant a church, etc.) while partnering with a local church in the region where we are working.  Our goal is not to create dependency, but simply to strengthen the work of the local village church by providing labor, training, and other resources for projects that would benefit the local church.  We would connect our people to a specific project…instead of trying to connect our people to a missionary.  We would actually work the project; the local church would get the credit.  Also, we would commit to the specific village/area for the long term…like for five years instead of just two weeks.  We can do more over a longer period of time…if we commit to it and if we are intentional. 

I love missionaries.  I am grateful for their commitment and passion to spread God’s Word.  It’s just that God has called every Christ follower to be a missionary, so let’s quit talking about it and go. 

Your thoughts?